Quakers blank Elis in Kelly's home finale

Kari Dennis recorded a shutout in her Penn debut despiteKari Dennis recorded a shutout in her Penn debut despitefinding out she was starting only minutes before the game. Emotion was running high Friday night at Franklin Field. The Penn field hockey team played its last home game of the season, and it was the home crowd's final chance to say goodbye to co-captain Curran Kelly, the only senior on the team. And what a farewell it was. The Quakers (7-9, 3-2 Ivy League) fed off the emotion and pressured Yale to a 2-0 victory. Despite several opportunities, neither team was able to score until just before halftime. The Quakers' breakthrough came with only three seconds left on the clock, when forward Tara Childs scored the opening goal off of an assist from junior Amy Meehan. "We were pushing it, and there wasn't much time left on the clock. And we had it in the circle and were just trying to get in the cage, and we finally connected," Childs said. With the last-second goal, the momentum, which up to that point had been evenly shared, was shifted on Penn's side. Yale (9-7, 1-4) was unable to recover from that emotional blow. "[The goal] was a tremendous boost to the team," Penn coach Val Cloud said. "It was like giving us a shot of adrenaline going into the second half." The icing on the cake came 13 minutes into the second half when junior co-captain Michele Canuso-Bedesem scored off a Penn corner attempt. The goal was assisted by the Childs sisters, Tara and Erica. The burden then fell to the defense and goalkeeper Kari Dennis to hold the lead. Playing in place of the injured Sarah Dunn, Dennis was more than up to the challenge. Despite finding out about the start only minutes before the game, Dennis recorded a shutout in her college varsity debut. "I give a lot of credit to Kari," Cloud said. "That's a pretty awesome experience, not expecting it, to step in and performing well." Throughout the game, Yale put pressure on Penn's defense. Several Elis shots just missed going in the cage. Yale had a golden opportunity with four minutes left in the game when it was awarded a penalty stroke, but the Yale shooter missed wide right. Despite the attack, the Quakers defense held strong. "The defense helped out a lot and made my job easy," Dennis said. Penn's confidence level is now soaring after the homecoming victory. Although the Quakers lost 3-0 twice to two nationally-ranked teams before the Yale contest, Penn was pleased with its improved performance. Friday, the Quakers finally converted their improvement into a win. "What we need to do now is reap the reward of improving," Cloud said before the match. "We need a win. Then we'll really feel like we've made progress." Friday night, Penn put the pieces together. Now the momentum will have to carry over to Saturday when the Quakers finish the season against Princeton. "This was an incredible way to end the season," Kelly said. "This is wonderful because everything came together. This was a great way to end my season at Franklin Field."